FYI

Sometimes as a kid, you just know what you want to do in life and you go after it. For Berkley resident Andy Salmu, that something was lawn care. He got his own wagon and tools and canvassed his own neighborhood taking care of yards. When he turned 16, he expanded his territory equipped with his driver’s license and a “bigger wagon.”

“I was 12 and in middle school and got a wagon from Home Depot,” Salmu said. “And a contractor friend helped me build it and put racks on it. I pushed it around and it had my company name on it.”

Salmu worked two to three blocks with his mower and a “back pack” blower.

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“I had three homes and I would cut all those homes and I made about $10 bucks a piece and I still have those homes today,” he said. “In middle school I had about eight clients and it would take me about three days.”

Salmu continued to build his lawn care business during high school working six days a week,.

“When I turned 15, I bought a John Deere tractor and I could go across Catalpa,” he said. “It was about a mile radius. Then when I turned 16, I got a trailer and a pickup truck and expanded my work area.”

Salmu only recently sold his original truck and now he has a white fleet replete with his company name emblazoned on the side. In addition to expanding his fleet, he has more workers with him, which also expands the scope of his business.

There’s not much “lawn care” to be done in the winter, though he did look into winter maintenance but didn’t pursue that area of business.

“In the winter I work on ways I can grow my business,” Salmu said.

The Berkley high school grad said he enjoys what he’s doing with lawn care.

“I love being outside, I love working with my clients, I just love my whole business,” he said. “I couldn’t be happier with how this all came about.”

And he came about his work ethic and business plan simply because he wanted to make some money and not just be a kid. He simply wants to do a good job for his clients.

“We’re always trying to make a property look amazing. I’m very particular on how I do things,” he said. “To pulling a couple of weeds to installing 30 yards of mulch — everything has to be excellent. If it doesn’t look good, I bring my guys back and we work until it’s right.”

One way to make sure everything is done right is that Salmu cross-trains his staff so the “landscape guys know how to cut grass and the lawn guys know how to do the landscape work. In case one guy doesn’t show up, the job gets covered.”

Salmu makes sure he gets over to most every job site and is hands-on while there. He may run the business side of things but he keeps his hands in the dirt with both commercial and residential projects. Though only 22, the lawn care expert has specific business goals to reach by the time he hits 40.

“I want to have at least seven crews with 15 people working for me. I want to be able to handle it all and still give each customer the service they deserve,” he said.